The 2009–10 season was the 42nd season for the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Premier Division, and the third season for the

Division One North and South. For Sponsorship reasons, the leagues were more formally known as the Unibond Premier, Unibond 1st Division North and Unibond 1st Division South This was the last season that the three Northern Premier League divisions were sponsored by Henkel Unibond, ending a record 17 seasons relationship. The final allocations of teams following the 2008–09 season was released on 29 May 2009. With the restructuring of the national league system complete, all three divisions of the Northern Premier League had their full complement of twenty-two teams until the withdrawal of Newcastle Blue Star (see below).

Premier Division

The Premier Division featured seven new clubs: *

Burscough Burscough () is a town and civil parish in West Lancashire in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It is located to the north of Ormskirk and northwest of Skelmersdale. The parish also includes the hamlet of Tarlscough and the Martin M ...

, relegated from the

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

Hucknall Town Hucknall Town Football Club are a football club based in the town of Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, England. The club are members of the and play at Watnall Road. History Hucknall Town were renamed from Hucknall Colliery Welfare in 1987 and for ...

, relegated from the

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

, demoted under stadium quality rules from the

* Durham City, promoted from NPL Division One North *

Newcastle Blue Star Newcastle Blue Star F.C. is a football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was established in 1930 and joined the Wearside League in 1973. In 1978, it won the FA Vase. Having won promotion to the Northern Premier League Premier Divi ...

, promoted via play-offs from NPL Division One North *

Retford United Retford United Football Club (also known as the Badgers) are an England, English association football, football club based at Cannon Park in Retford, Nottinghamshire. They currently play in the . History The club was founded in 1987 by Retfor ...

, promoted from NPL Division One South * Stocksbridge Park Steels, promoted via play-offs from NPL Division One South

League table

Results

Play-offs

* After extra time

Stadia and locations

Division One North

The Division One North featured three new clubs: *

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional football club based in Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm. Originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger of Kirkham Town and Wesh ...

, promoted as champions from the NWCFL Premier Division * Leigh Genesis, relegated from the NPL Premier Division * Prescot Cables, relegated from the NPL Premier Division

League table

Results

Play-offs

Division One South

The Division One South featured five new clubs: *

Witton Albion Witton may refer to one of several places in England: *Witton, historic name of an area of Northwich, Cheshire **Witton Albion F.C. *Witton Gilbert, County Durham *Witton-le-Wear, County Durham *Witton, an area of Blackburn, Lancashire * Witton, B ...

, relegated from the NPL Premier Division *

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

, demoted under stadium quality rules from the NPL Premier Division *

Chasetown Chasetown is a village in the town of Burntwood in Staffordshire, England. It is split between the civil parishes of Burntwood and Hammerwich. History Chasetown developed in the mid 19th century as a coal mining village. At first the village wa ...

, transferred from the

Southern League Division One Midlands The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English foot ...

* Mickleover Sports, promoted as champions from the

Northern Counties East League Premier Division The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the football pyramid respectively. History T ...

Market Drayton Market Drayton is a market town and electoral ward in the north of Shropshire, England, close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is on the River Tern, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" (c. 1868) and earlier simply as "D ...

, promoted as champions from the

Midland Football Alliance The Midland Football Alliance was an English association football league for semi-professional teams. It covered Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and also southern parts of Derbyshire and Not ...

League table

Results

Play-offs

Resignations and their effects

On 20 June 2009, three days following the league's AGM which confirmed the 2009–10 allocation, Newcastle Blue Star resigned from the league. As division placements had been confirmed be then, no replacement team could be entered and the Premier Division was reduced to twenty one teams for the season. On 9 December 2009,

were officially wound up by the High Court in London over debts and an overdue tax bill, and they will play no further games in the season. The League released a table on 21 December with King's Lynn's playing record expunged from it, and leaving the Premier Division with twenty clubs and only two relegation spots. Then, in March 2010

Chester City F.C. Chester City Football Club was an association football team from Chester, England that played in a variety of leagues between 1885 and 2010. The club played its home games at Sealand Road from 1906 to 1991 and moved to the Deva Stadium in 1992 ...

and

Farsley Celtic A.F.C. Farsley Celtic Football Club is a football club based in Farsley, West Yorkshire, England. The club was founded in 1908, but folded in 2010 and were reformed as Farsley AFC before returning to the name Farsley Celtic in 2015.

were removed from the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

and

respectively. Promotion from the First Divisions to the Premier Division took place as planned. Relegation from the First Divisions to the county level was reduced from the planned two per division to one. Relegation from the Premier Division was reduced from two to one on account of developments in the Conference. The final decision on relegations were made during the close season by the FA's National League System Committee which left this method completely redundant as Chester City, Farsley Celtic (now

Farsley A.F.C. Farsley Celtic Football Club is a football club based in Farsley, West Yorkshire, England. The club was founded in 1908, but folded in 2010 and were reformed as Farsley AFC before returning to the name Farsley Celtic in 2015.

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside in nearby Aveley. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former S ...

(lost their ground),

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

(expelled), VCD Athletic (ground grade fail) and

Rothwell Town Rothwell Town F.C. was a football club based in Rothwell in the north of Northamptonshire. They were founding members of the Northamptonshire League in 1895, and played in the United Counties League Division One until 2011–12. History The c ...

(resigned) were all demoted to Level 8.

Cup results

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

: Teams from all 3 divisions. *''Boston United'' 2–0 Retford United

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

: Teams from lower 2 divisions. *''Belper Town'' 3–1 Stamford Chairman's Cup: Between Champions of NPL Division One North and NPL Division One South. *Halifax 2–2 ''Mickleover'', Mickleover win 3–1 on Pens

Peter Swales Shield

The Peter Swales Shield has changed format several times, and the 2010 version saw the champions of the 2009–10 NPL Premier Division,

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is a town in metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-western suburb of Leeds. It sits in th ...

, play against the winners of the 2010 NPL Chairman's Cup,

North Ferriby United North Ferriby United Association Football Club was a semi-professional football club in North Ferriby, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. At the time of their demise they were members of the Northern Premier League and played at Grange Lane. F ...

. It was decided before the match that no extra time would be played and would go straight to penalties after regulation. Guiseley won the game 5–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw after 90 minutes.

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial Northern Premier League Match Photo Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-10 Northern Premier League Northern Premier League seasons 7